Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Tourism Vancouver and Visit Anaheim have unveiled a series of fun, insightful videos highlighting the similarities between their respective destinations, common misconceptions held about each, and unexpected destination highlights.

The videos are part of a year-long marketing campaign the destination marketing organizations (DMOs) collaborated on with the goal of cross-promoting to each other’s key visitation markets – and Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to celebrate the destinations’ mutual attraction.

While attending Destination Marketing Association International’s (DMAI) annual convention, Tourism Vancouver and Visit Anaheim’s marketing teams came together and realized their destinations are not only key tourism markets for each other, but in fact offered unexpected experiences that were still a secret to many visitors. Vancouver and Anaheim are home to some of the world’s most recognizable tourist attractions, but are also bursting with distinctive arts, culinary and craft beer scenes. So, these wise marketers mused, instead of competing for visitors … why not instead join forces to execute a playful cross-promotional campaign?

To execute an inspirational series that accurately portrayed the similarities and differences between both destinations, the DMOs collaborated with a Vancouver-based video production agency to create a collection of amusing videos quizzing people about Anaheim and Vancouver. The result was compelling, entertaining and often surprising – click here to see for yourself.

“Each year, Vancouver receives more than 400,000 visitors from California, and this year alone visitation is up 9.7 percent over 2015,” said Candice Gibson, Marketing Manager for Tourism Vancouver. “Paired with strong air access between Vancouver International Airport and John Wayne Airport, a partnership with Anaheim just made sense. We still have quite a few activations, fun digital campaigns and contests up our sleeves for consumers to enjoy while learning more about our amazing destinations.”

The video series, created with the help of destination partner WestJet, has been rolled out as part of greater marketing efforts spearheaded by both Tourism Vancouver and Visit Anaheim. Tourism Vancouver introduced its Vancouver-branded video in late November to coincide with the launch of a new “Get to Know Vancouver” digital campaign in Anaheim; since then, the video has generated more than 200,000 YouTube views.

Visit Anaheim recently soft-launched its Anaheim-branded video to cap off a greater Canadian marketing push that involved trade and consumer activations across Canada, and a focus on Vancouver. The activations included a family-friendly event at 6Pack Beach that brought sunny Anaheim to Vancouverites; the day-long event featured beach volleyball, sand castle competitions, face painting, opportunities to meet with travel trade representatives from Disneyland and more. More than 500 Vancouverites braved the rain to experience some Anaheim sunshine and learn more about the destination. To see highlights from the day’s events, click here.

“Western Canada is a really important market for us to reach and market to, promoting how easy it is to come to Anaheim and experience the wonder of our destination,” said Charles Harris, senior vice president, Marketing, Visit Anaheim. “Partnering with Tourism Vancouver on this video series has been an asset to us and complements the other activities we are executing in that region. It’s been a dream to work with a like-minded partner and similar destination to tell great stories together, all with the same goal in mind – bringing new visitors to our destinations.”

Next up: a third video, launching today, offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of this destination partnership, following the idea from conception to campaign execution and thrilling residents of each destination with a jet-setting surprise. Next up for this budding destination relationship: future collaborations that incorporate mutually iconic destination components ranging from NHL hockey to craft beer to West Coast cuisine and beaches. To view the new video, click here.